The Ladies’ Downhill
at the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in Sochi, 2011-2012
Figure 2: Goals for the Golden Decade
OUTCOME
Projecting the Nation
COMMENTARY
China won acclaim through staging the 2008 Olympic Games, which sub- sequently brought a record 72 million visitors to World Expo in Shanghai. These events could be viewed as marking China’s coming of age. The Germany 2006 FIFA World Cup was seen to effectively counter
much of the lingering prejudice against Germany, dating from the 1939- 1945 Second World War. After winning the FIFA World Cup 2018 bid, Putin stated that the
world’s view of Russia originated from the Cold War and stressed the importance of showing that the country is open for business and that an international sports event can stimulate ‘contacts’.
Economic Growth
Prioritising the development of infrastructure is a standard strategy in sustaining economic growth. Brazil’s Growth Acceleration Programme is a good example of how a country has chosen the hosting of major inter- national sports events to guide building programmes. Estimates from the US Department of Transport have stated that each
dollar of highways investment leads to US$6.20 (£3.90) of GDP growth. We can expect that the multiplier will be significantly higher in Russia.
Regional Development
While economic development will naturally start in the principal cities, the host cities and regions for Russia’s major sports events are spread across the country. Russia’s bid for the 2018 FIFA World Cup includes 13 host cities, including Moscow and St Petersburg.
Improving the effectiveness of Investment
Thanks to its economic wealth, underpinned by oil and gas revenues, Russia can afford to spend money. Its challenge has long been to secure high-quality outcomes from its investments. Good planning has never been an issue for the Kremlin however, prob-
lems can sometimes arise in delivery. Analysts claim that it costs ten-times as much to build a road in Moscow as in say, Berlin and, even at this cost, quality is not always up to international standard. Russia’s leaders are at- tempting to overcome this by exposing deliverers to the extra discipline with fixed deadlines; international quality standards, expectations and standards; extreme levels of international scrutiny; high prestige associ- ated with success and conversely damage to a company’s reputation in the event of failure.
Health of the Nation
The neglect of Russia’s infrastructures during the 90s is also evident in the area of public health. In October 2003, Putin stated that the health of the nation depends directly on the successful development of physical culture and sport.
Inspiration
Russia is aiming to make sure that some of the ‘magic dust’ associated with major sports events rubs off. This is illustrated in this extract from the Sochi 2014 web site: “The Olympic Games cannot guarantee positive change across all aspects of life, but they can inspire. If every Russian embraces change the Games can become the catalyst for positive change in our cities and the inspiration for our people.”
Inga Abitova wins silver for the 10,000m at the 2010 European Championships
Russia’s interests. In return the state would make links with these corpora- tions by providing support so that they could grow and compete with multi-na- tional companies in international trade. In the early stages of each bid, national
champions were recruited as supporters and to provide credible financial backing. During Sochi’s bid presentation to the International Olympic Committee two of Russia’s richest men, Oleg Deripaska and Vladimir Potanin, sat at either side of the Russian leader. Potanin is the controlling shareholder
of Norilsk Nickel, which has subsequently invested heavily in the finance and con- struction of the Roza Khutor, the base for Alpine events during the Sochi 2014 Olympics. Oleg Deripaska has bought the local airport then expanded it to accom- modate international traffic and built the second Olympic Village for 3,000 athletes in the Imeritinsky Valley. Another huge corporate Ural Mining
and Metallurgical Company (UMMC) is involved in the financing and construc- tion of facilities for the Sochi Games. This is substantially owned by the Russian billionaire Iskander Makhmudov. The Russian news agency RIANOVOSTI re- ports that way back in 2002 when asked if UMMC would help out in one of Rus- sia’s regions, Makhmudov replied “we are all Putin’s soldiers”.
WIDER IMPACTS As well as the hosting of internation- al sports events to inspire the Russian
38 Read Sports Management online
sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital Issue 1 2012 © cybertrek 2012
GLOBAL SPOTLIGHT
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